“It’s critical that doctors understand the business of medicine; that is, how we can treat people and still run a business,” says Diana Reeves, MD, owner of Denver Retina Center in Denver, Colorado.

Although Dr. Reeves has an extensive medical background, first as an ophthalmologist and then as a retina specialist, once she established her own practice, she found she needed a whole different set of skills beyond her clinical expertise to make her practice successful.

“I had to learn about coding, billing, EHR, overall management, and the financial flow,” she says. “And we have to be constantly ready to change in areas such as ICD-10.”

Fortunately, Dr. Reeves recognized early on that she couldn’t possibly handle all the business details herself and still supply top-notch retina care. Little by little, she added staff members, several on the administrative side as well as medical personnel.

The Up Front Factors
Dr. Reeves found her new hires through advertising. “I conduct interviews, of course, but you can never really tell how things will turn out with staff members until they have a few weeks of trial time. Then it’s pretty obvious,” she says.

Her front-end team includes:

A billing coordinator. “I outsource actual billing, but there’s still someone in-house to interface with patients,” Dr. Reeves says. This member also does some day-to-day financial tasks.

A procedural manager. This person is responsible for coordinating all staff scheduling. “We work with clinics for the uninsured Hispanic population in the area, and we want to contribute as much time as we can, so this staff member coordinates our schedules ahead of time. She also organizes my surgical schedule,” says Dr. Reeves.

“We also have an IT expert who works on retainer,” she adds, “This includes handling our website.”

The Practice of Medicine
Dr. Reeves says the practice sees 40 patients a day, but says that’s only possible because she has a clinical team of ophthalmic technicians who handles many of the simpler medical tasks in the practice.

“They examine intraocular pressures, color perception and dilate patients. They note any specific patient complaints and handle all scribing. Once they’ve done everything they can, I do the rest,” she says.

She emphasizes she couldn’t handle her responsibilities as a retina physician without her staff of professionals, all of whom she trained to meet her specific needs. “You could handle about three patients a day without proper clinical and administrative back-up, but then your income would be non-existent,” says Dr. Reeves.”

Although the practice runs fairly smoothly now, she’d like to have an office manager to oversee her staff. “So far, I’ve found it extremely difficult to find one person who understands all that’s needed and can work with the entire staff,” says Dr. Reeves. In the meantime, the medical side of her practice is expanding. In fact, she’s in the process of hiring another physician.